Amid 'Closeness' With BJP, KCR's Party Ends Boycott Of Central Meetings

In a first since November 2020, the party sent a representative to the all-party meeting on the situation in Manipur convened by Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi today.

Amid speculation of the party's increasing closeness with the BJP,  the Bharat Rashtra Samithi has ended its over two-year run of boycotting meetings called by the Centre and sent a representative to the all-party meeting on the Manipur situation today.

The move comes as Telangana Chief Minister and BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who was at the forefront of efforts to unite like-minded parties against the BJP, has given up on opposition unity and is now focused on presenting his 'Telangana development model'. His party had also skipped the 16-party opposition meeting in Patna yesterday. 

KCR, who had been relentless in his attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi - taking on the 'Gujarat model' and alleging that he chooses outfits based on elections - called the PM a "good friend" at a party event in Nagpur on June 15.  And, while the mega opposition meeting was on yesterday, Mr Rao's son and Telangana minister K T Rama Rao began a two-day visit to New Delhi, during which he met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and is scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Mr Shah chaired the all-party meeting on the violence in Manipur, which began at 3 pm at the Parliament Library Building in New Delhi. KCR nominated senior leader and former Member of Parliament B Vinod to attend the meet, which is the first central meeting the BRS has participated in since November 2020